Mark Zuckerberg has Pledged 99% of his Facebook Holdings to Charity in a Touching Letter to his Newborn Daughter

In an amazing display of kindness and philanthropy, Mark Zuckerberg, the Founder and CEO of Facebook, and his wife Pricilla Chan will be donating 99% of their estimated $45 billion dollars worth of Facebook stock shares to charity. The inspiration for this awesome act of kindness? Their daughter, Max.Buy an “Intelligence is sexy” t-shirt!

Zuckerberg posted a letter online Tuesday that he wrote to his daughter saying,
“Dear Max,
Your mother and I don’t yet have the words to describe the hope you give us for the future. Your new life is full of promise, and we hope you will be happy and healthy so you can explore it fully. You’ve already given us a reason to reflect on the world we hope you live in.

Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today.

While headlines often focus on what’s wrong, in many ways the world is getting better. Health is improving. Poverty is shrinking. Knowledge is growing. People are connecting. Technological progress in every field means your life should be dramatically better than ours today.

We will do our part to make this happen, not only because we love you, but also because we have a moral responsibility to all children in the next generation.”

He went on to say, “As you begin the next generation of the Chan-Zuckerberg family, we also begin the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative to join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation. Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.

We will give 99% of our Facebook shares — currently about $45 billion — during our lives to advance this mission. We know this is a small contribution compared to all the resources and talents of those already working on these issues. But we want to do what we can, working alongside many others.”

Zuckerberg and Chan have a long history of financial donations to charities in the past, but nothing on this scale. To date, this is one of, if not the largest charitable obligations ever made. Zuckerberg wraps his letter up by saying “Max, we love you and feel a great responsibility to leave the world a better place for you and all children. We wish you a life filled with the same love, hope and joy you give us. We can’t wait to see what you bring to this world.
Love,
Mom and Dad”